Orvieto Underground

The ground under Orvieto has been described as a honeycomb of caves, all of which are manmade. Most of them, in fact, are privately owned and serve as cellars. Only a small area of 2 caves is open to the public.
The 1st picture is in a section of cave that had been adapted to be operated as an olive oil mill. I'm told it was active through most of the 19th century. Because the temperature in the caves was pretty consistent year round, they could store the olives longer after the harvest and could work year round. The 2nd picture is still oni the oil mill, showing some mill stones and other equipment.
The 3rd picture is simply a look at a section of cave. Marks of picks and chisels are visible.
The 4th picture is a well. Sitting on top of the volcanic plug, Orvieto has no surface water. So, especially if under siege, having access to water was critical. These hand dug wells were built using steps carved in the walls that you can make out in the picture. The workers straddled the excavation, digging down and adding steps as they went. It could be 100 meters straight down to reach water.
The last picture is of a typical use for caves around the edges of the cliff: a dove cote or set of pigeon holes. Pigeon was and still is a typical dish here. Raising these birds was very lucrative as they could reproduce monthly and the birds could feed themselves by a exiting for the day to feed and bring home food for chicks. So, once the dove cote was built, there was essentially no overhead.Read more